Michael Nicot
/ yearbook photo
CLIFTON SPRINGS -- An Ontario County school district has won an important court decision in its fight to fire a teacher.
State Supreme Court Judge Frederick Reed ruled in favor of the Phelps-Clifton Springs School District by ordering the State Education Department to hold another hearing for mathematics teacher Michael Nicot.
Nicot was allegedly caught with pornography on his school issued laptop in January 2007. After a number of delays and about $200,000 in legal expenses, the Phelps-Clifton Springs School District was angered when a hearing officer ordered that Nicot be suspended without pay for 6 months, after which the district would be forced to re-hire him.
This week's decision sends Nicot's fate back before the hearing officer. Judge Reed stated, the "six month suspension...certainly shocks the court's conscience... the sanction wholly fails to serve as a deterrent to any other teacher..."
In a news release Thursday night, the Phelps-Clifton Springs School District said the original ruling calling for suspension and reinstatement of Nicot "Violates the state's policy to protect children from pornography."
District Superintendent Mike Ford told CNY Central, "It shows that this broken process...for tenured teachers has an alternative which is when a decision like this happens, districts can appeal it and judges are able to give a stronger push for greater consequence."
Nicot could not be reached for comment.
